Wednesday, 30 April 2014

Silvereye - Zosterops lateralis - 11–13 cm. I only managed to get 1 shot of this bird.

The many races occupy diverse habitats: eucalypti
woodland, forest, coastal heath, mallee, mangroves and many other vegetation
types; also can be found in gardens, orchards and vineyards. Foraging
Silvereyes are lively, busily active little birds, constantly on the move; they
depart to the next patch of shrubbery with brisk, bouncy flight and much
calling. All races are gregarious: after breeding they gather into small
parties and then into large flocks, these foraging through foliage of trees and
undergrowth.

Major migrations occur along Australia’s E coast. The southernmost
populations seem to undertake the longest migrations to escape the approaching
southern winter.

Breeding

Sep.–Jan. Builds a small, deep cup of fine grass and other plant matter bound with webs. In drier regions the nests are the pale golden buff of freshly-dried grass; in more humid coastal regions such as Tasmania, and elsewhere that such materials are available, the nest may be quite green with fine threads of moss. The nest is suspended by the rim from slender twigs, usually well hidden in the dense foliage of a shrub or a tree’s lower canopy. Usual clutch 2–4 eggs. Both parents share the nest building, incubation of eggs (10 days), and feeding of the young.

Tuesday, 29 April 2014

I visited Mount Stewart House and Gardens in March and these
are some of the photographs I took. Over time, I will be showing you how the
restoration of the house is being undertaken.
I also visited the garden again the other day, so again later you will
be able to see the difference in the growth of the garden from March to April. There are quite a number of photographs so perhaps, grab a cuppa, put it into slide mode and just enjoy walking round the garden with me.

Lindera obtusiloba above and Pachyphragma macrophyllum below.

Cyclemen - Lovely to see these in woody areas.

Corylopsis pauciflora

Emerging shoot belongs to Gunnera manicata and I saw the same plant the other day and it stands at about 4 feet now!

This is part of the formal garden. The other side is designed the same.

I loved the way the stakes which are made of bamboo and
willow are used to support the emerging shots and plants and these are Paeony peeping
through.

This is a wonderful Camellia gracing part of the house.

Chrysosplenium macrophyllum

Prunus ‘Kursar’ found near the Lake.

Rhododendron Cilipense

Clianthus puniceus (Lobster claw or Parrot's Bill)

Phormium – a bronze variety

Photinia

This white Stag overlooks some of the wonderful
Rhododendrons below.

Cameilia

This is part of the Mairi Garden

The Mairi Garden commemorates the success of the
Women’s Legion of which Edith was the Colonel-in-Chief and the arrival of a
late child, Lady Mairi, whose elf-like countenance clinched the status of Mount
Stewart in Lady Londonderry’s eyes as 'The Land of Heart’s Desire'.

Although in March there are not many plants blooming
the colour scheme for this garden is blue and white which makes it a very peaceful
and relaxing area.

Monday, 28 April 2014

I have come to the end of my stay on Copeland Island
and although it was a lovely sunny day, the wind was whipping up and as the day
progressed the sea got rougher. I
decided to walk around the island to say goodbye to some of the birds and animals
I had seen. Please join me as I say my farewells,
until next time.

Of course I had to see how the Fulmars was doing and
they were at times flying about and then back to their nesting sites.

I was told there was a cave on the island so I decided
to investigate and found it. It was only
the width of me but I went in to see how far I could get. I have to confess, when my sides were tight to
the sides of the cave, I started to wonder if the tide came in how would I get
out! Anyway, it did not go very far and when
it was only 2 foot high, I was not able to go any further.

This shot was taking looking out to the sea.

This is as far as I got and I am told there is not much
more further on.

It was lovely to watch the behaviour of them. They often would be quite vocal and touch
each other’s beaks and then nearly both at the same time would suddenly put their heads into their necks
for a rest but only for maybe 2-5
minutes and they would start all over again.

Then down to the water’s edge to see the many Black
Guillemots that were mostly in the water.

Some decided to sit on the seaweed.

A few more were sitting at one of the jetty’s.

There were still a lot of seals either in the water or
on the rocks over on Mew Island but this fellow was lying on the seaweed
keeping an eye on me.

I made my way up to the house again as I had to pack and
clean up (more dishes) and have some lunch. I passed this bunny.

Ian was completing the records of the birds that that
been ringed or re - caught over the weekend. He was showing my some past
records as many birds are often re -trapped.
This is a page from the record book.

I hope you can see this, I have cropped the shot so you can hopefully
see line number 58. The bird was first caught in February 1989 and
again in April of that year. If you look
along that line you will see it again was caught several times in 1990, twice
in 92, then not until 95 and last time was caught twice in 2004.

This is a view from my bedroom window.

After lunch 8 of us got geared up with rubber gloves to go
as a team to clean up some of the rubbish that has landed on the shore.

The main thing collected that day were plastic bottles
but we also found balls, bits of balloons, bottle tops, 4 large crates and many
more items.

Bending down is Ian Humphreys, Chief Executive Keep
Northern Ireland Beautiful. (Duty Officer that weekend)He said, "The
BIG Spring Clean is such a brilliant way for the silent majority to get out and
show the litter louts just how we want the place to be kept. I'm proud to be
part of this growing movement of people who care enough to do something
positive about it." More information can be found at www.bigspringcleanni.org

We had 2 children in the party and it was lovely to see
that they were very keen to pick up the litter and were a great help.

I added this shot to show you a little more of the
landscape of the island.

My best litter find and in keeping with the ‘Clean Up’ was
finding this little duck.The Hastings hotels is a magnificent and largest group of hotels in Northern Ireland and I
have been privileged to have met the owner, Sir Billy Hastings.However his son, Howard is supporting The Big Spring Clean
in Northern Ireland. This year, they are hoping
that 100,000 people across the province will help make this our largest
anti-litter campaign to date.Howard said after am amazing result last year, "Thank you to everyone for your fabulous response to the Big Spring Clean Campaign the volunteering efforts to clean up our public areas have demonstrated how much this message resonates with so many people.

This effort is a tangible demonstration of how Northern Ireland is turning the corner in showing how we want to be viewed by both those who live here, and by our new visitors."

So we named the duck, “Hastings” and made him our mascot and now he sits in the little office at the front of the house where he can see out and watch all that is going on! Now how could anyone throw him away!!

This is the last shot I took on the island as I looked over to Mew Island Lighthouse. I knew we would have a
rough ride home and certainly not a time to bring a camera out!

I will leave you with a short video which can be access at

http://youtu.be/hgPxgUgeqBo

If there is a black space below, click it and the video will appear.

I know it has taken me ages to complete all the posts from Copeland Island however I hope for those that followed everyday you enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed being there.

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About Me

I have retired from a medical background, as well as teaching a 3 year City and Guilds; and also running a Bed and Breakfast. I have taken up bird watching later in life however I became very enthusiastic from the beginning and was greatly encouraged by other bird watchers. For the past 9 years I have led a bird group in my town and have become a guest speaker on cruise ships talking about Birds around the world. I have travelled quite a bit, in particular to Australia where one of my daughters lives. I have now as many birding friends there as at home in Northern Ireland. I love Nature and being able to share that with others of like mind. I also like photography and do my best to photograph birds although I seem to be also very eclectic in what I photograph and blog these days.
I live in Northern Ireland which is part of the UK and it is a beautiful place to live however I love travelling to see places and birds that I have never seen before.